ARTICLES ABOUT CHENNAI BY DATE - PAGE 2

CHENNAI: Stung by the high-gear drive of app-based cab aggregators, 13-year old radio taxi company Fast Track has begun enlisting commercial vehicles for cargo transport in Chennai, a market where Ola, TaxiForSure and Uber have made inroads. Fast Track belongs in the legacy crop of radio taxis that number over 10,000 in Chennai. Born in an era of the call-centre boom, its cabs are hailed mainly by call and aggregated on upfront payment by the driver each month, a model the new-age players gave a wide berth to enable quicker aggregation.

CHENNAI: Just as Tamil Nadu prepares to raise curtains over a Global Investors Meet scheduled in May, a nagging issue of land scarcity brews backstage. While opening the door for biggies on one side, land scarcity is stalling MNCs Ford and Capgemini from setting up what can be 2.5 million sq. ft of offices in Chennai. Ford, which employs 11,500 people in the country, wants parcels of about 20 acres to set up a new campus that will bring its Chennai workforce in one campus.

CHENNAI: An executive committee meeting of DMK would be held here on March five. The meeting, to be chaired by party president M Karunanidhi, would be held at the party headquarters, DMK General Secretary K Anbhazhagan said in a statement.

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia is evaluating offers from three to four bidders for its non-functional handset manufacturing plant in Chennai, but the company's focus is on getting the freeze clamped on some of its India assets owing to a tax dispute lifted, without which the factory can't be sold. In an interview with Deepali Gupta, Nokia chief executive Rajeev Suri exudes optimism. Suri, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday adds that telecom operators should buy what they can regardless of the frequency in the upcoming spectrum sale.

The stock of India Cements rose 12.3% on Thursday following the company's decision to hive off the sports division, Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited. It is beneficial for the existing shareholders as the company would now be valued purely on its core cement business. Investors who want exposure to mid-sized cement companies can, however, look at other options such as The Ramco Cements, which exhibits better operating discipline and hence, far higher return on equity and better operating margin.

NEW DELHI: Lava International has dropped out of the race to buy Nokia's Chennai handset factory , once the world's biggest but now non-operational, as the fast-growing home-bred smartphone maker concentrates on developing its own manufacturing facilities in Uttar Pradesh. According to people aware of the development, a large-scale Chinese manufacturer, which was supposed to partner with Lava International to buy and subsequently operate the Nokia plant, decided to invest in its home market, forcing Lava to change its plans.

CHENNAI: An interesting Chennai connection to cotton farming in regions across the country is bringing cheer to farmers. Sivanand, a cotton farmer from Donkhar Khandala village of Vidarbha region in Maharashtra, which witnessed a spate of farmer suicides some years ago, is happy collaborating with a Chennai-based start up called Mircrospin Machine Works. He gets paid better for his cotton and the wages from working at the spinning unit nearby adds to his revenue. Started by Kannan L, an IIT-Madras graduate, Microspin started piloting its patented technology in Vidarbha region 18 months ago. The idea was to develop a different method of spinning in a much smaller scale than the conventional spinning.

CHENNAI: The much-awaited Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the BCCI, which had to be deferred a number of times because of the IPL spot-fixing case, will now be held here on March 2, bringing an end to the uncertainty over its functioning. The decision was taken at the Board's emergent Working Committee meeting where sidelined N Srinivasan also attended in his capacity as Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) president. The committee discussed the implications of the Supreme Court judgement and decided to act as per legal advice.

By Kanchana Dwarkanath, Magicbricks.com Bureau Arvind Kandasami had bought a property in the outskirts of Chennai in the GST - NH45 area sometime back. He cross checked all the documents and got the property registered in his name in 2013. When he got information that somebody was constructing on his property, he immediately took steps to counter it. Imagine his shock when his lawyer informed that he had registered his property in the wrong Taluk. "Apparently, the said property is on the border of two Taluks and while all the neighbouring properties come under one (which is where I too had registered mine)

NEW DELHI: Delhi government today granted the licence to a Chennai-based cab service provider to run radio taxis in the national capital even as the decision on extending such permits to the US-based firm Uber, Taxi For Sure and another taxi service provider is yet to be taken. According to the government, NTL Call Taxi Pvt Ltd has become the first company to procure the licence since the introduction of 'Modified Radio Taxi Scheme (2006)' and will be allowed to operate a cab service in the city.